Cycling The Kibiji Plain

Today’s jaunt saw us taking a train to a small village a few miles outside Okayama, where we hired bikes to cycle the bike trail across the Kibiji Plain.

According to which website you believe, the trail is somewhere between 15 and 23 kilometres long and meanders mainly through thankfully flat, fertile farmland, a few small villages and some delightfully tranquil rural temples.

The main photo is of the pagoda at Kokobunji Temple, near the end of the trail, where the blossoms below it created a picturesque scene.

The extras show the equally pretty Kibitsu Temple earlier in the route, an idea of the farmland we passed through and Tess at our picnic lunch stop.

At the end of the route, we were able to drop our bikes off at a hire shop, again next to the station, and catch a train for the 40 minute ride back to Okayama.

With temperatures in the mid 20s it was an exhausting but exhilarating ride and a great chance to get a glimpse of rural life.

This evening we were happy to collapse into the nearest restaurant which happened to be the tapas bar from our first night here, where we were greeted like old friends.